Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Psychology The illusion of having already experienced something actually being experienced for the first time.
  • noun An impression of having seen or experienced something before.
  • noun Dull familiarity; monotony.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Something which one has or suspects to have seen or experienced before, especially when that’s not the case.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French déjà-vu : déjà, already (from Old French des ja, from now on, from des, from + ja, now + from Latin iam) + vu, seen (from Old French veu, from Vulgar Latin vidūtus, alteration of vīsus, past participle of vidēre, to see; see weid- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French. From déjà, “already”, + vu, “seen”, past participle of voir, “to see”

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Examples

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Comments

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  • put some french words in your vocabulary, and your language just shine like a french fry.

    July 19, 2007

  • That's funny, Cranewang. ;-)

    July 25, 2007

  • cf.

    December 2, 2008

  • Haha!

    Wait...did I say that before?

    December 2, 2008

  • See vuja de.

    February 5, 2018